We had been idly looking at cars for a few months, figuring we would buy around spring sometime since the Jeep had just gotten paid off. We were all over the place on what type of vehicle to get and had looked at everything from Mercedes to Toyotas. Then my old little Ranger died last week and we had to make a quick decision. We knew it definitely was not going to be a Ford.

Being stranded up in DC, I was on the phone and in Dealerships for 6 days straight. Once we zeroed in on the 2004 Nissan 350Z, I started nailing the Nissan dealers in 3 states hard for the best deal.

Let me tell you why we decided on this baby. We had at first been wavering between MR2 Spyder, Z4, and an S2000.. once we finally decided on a sports car. Then we pulled into Nissan. Now, see, I'm a sports car nut from waaaay back and it's only in the past few years I'd gotten away from them. Two of the cars I've owned were the 240Z and then the 280Z. I loved them. I've had everything from a Fiat X19 to a Porsche 911S.. and I ran the hell out of every last one of them. I like to drive. heh.

I liked the looks of the 350Z right off the bat, and it did have the nostalgia factor going for it, but really I was still in love with a little black S2000, so it took some convincing. OK.. it took getting in the thing and feeling how it handled. I was hooked. Oh baby was I hooked. One of the problems with the older Z models was high speed lift. At about 130 you just had no control at all. That's not good. I can tell you that is no longer a problem with the new 350s. They put in an under-body spoiler that keeps that sweet thang solid on the ground even at 168 MPH (err I didn't cop to squat, ok?) heh.

You think I'm kidding. The kid that showed us the car is into racing on the track. He knows how to handle a fast car, and loves it. He got in a Track model and right there in the dealership parking lot in between two closely spaced rows of cars and just I mean jumped right on that thing... then he handed over the keys and said "you try it". We beat that bad boy like there was no tomorrow. We tested it on cornering, top end and braking. I am convinced there is nothing this car can't handle. It beat the hell out of my Porsche, I kid you not.

Braking is the best I have ever seen hands down. I cannot express to you how extremely impressed I am with the Z's braking system. Just remarkable. You have to go test one and see for yourself. Your jaw will hit the floor.

Responsive? Oh man. Hand in glove. You are one with the car. It's so responsive that it almost seems like it can anticipate your next move. All those higher-end sports cars are in serious trouble once word gets out on this sucker. That's a fact.

But let me start with the basics...

This car was not suppose to be. It was not planned. The engineers at Nissan designed it on the sly and then showed the suits the completed plans and sold them on it. They wanted to put the soul back in the company by bringing back the best car they ever made: The Z line. I'm glad they had that gumption.

This is one gorgeous lookin' ride. All rounded lines and low to the ground. Sleek as hell. This is a head turner without doubt. The interior on ours is all black and silver. You feel like you're in a cockpit. The seats will actually lay almost all the way down if you ever need to take a nap on a long road trip.

The Base model 350Z has a 287 HP with 274 lb-ft of torque, 3.5 litre V-6, with a 6-speed manual transmission, 17" aluminum alloy wheels, Automatic temperature control, and a very nice CD system. It also has two bars to give added stability to the frame at high speeds. No shimmy here folks! It has electric windows, keyless entry, an alarm system (not an annoying motion sensor), and you can even set it to beep at you when you go over x-RPM.. this feature is nice during this initial break-in period. You have a tach, speedo, and battery in front of you (analogue), then to the right slightly on the dash is another set of 3 digital gauges. Each of those have numerous purposes which you can flit back and forth between. The main speedo goes to 160, the digital will go as high as ya need it too... heh. That's just the base model. You can make it even better from there...

Nissan has come up with several packages of options. Now, I gotta tell ya, that's where they messed up. See, there are some options from each package I would have liked, but not all options in any package. For instance, the Track model we first drove has 18" wheels instead of 17, high performance tires, front chin spoiler, rear underbody diffusers, and a rear spoiler. The diffusers would have been nice, but the rear spoiler ain't all that... might give you maybe 5% help on high speed lift. Don't need it. Not worth the 8k additional for things I don't want.

The Touring package is about 7k over base, and has a Bose in-dash 6-CD changer, leather seats, heated seats/mirrors, and fully adjustable seats. So I would have been paying 7k for adjustable seats in that one. Not happening.

The Enthusiast is probably the best package, with a viscous limited slip differential, Traction control system, high intensity discharge, xenon headlights, and aluminum pedals. That's only 2k over base and I would have likely gone with that but I really don't want the traction control.. I know, sounds nuts on the surface, dunnit? Well, like I said, I'm an old freeway runner from way back, I want to feel when things are about to cut loose and that system stops that feedback. If they had had one on the lot though, I probably would have gone for it for the xenon headlights and differential.

They also have the Performance package for an additional 4k. This one has all the features of the Enthusiast package, plus the on-board tire gauge, vehicle dynamic control, those damn 18" wheels and high performance tires. We liked that tire gauge, we did not want the larger tires. The tire gauge was not worth 4k. heh.

Now the thing about the Z is it's blowing out the door as soon as they get them in from the truck. That means you absolutely will pay MSRP, at the very least. Some dealerships are tacking on an extra $500 to that. MSRP for the base model is $26,370. Now, you can't get that. They are all shipped with a minimum of aluminum kick plates, trunk mat, floor mats, and that damnable air bag curtain that covers both sides of the vehicle. I hate airbags, but what are ya gonna do? You have to pay that extra $500 for them unless you special order a base model and want to wait 120 days for it to arrive. I'm Id driven. I wanted it now. Those things brought the MSRP up to $27,860.

Ok. So the hunt is on. We want black, silverstone, liquid aluminum, or silver. We do not want orange, white, or red. So I'm calling every dealer in a tri-state area looking for one. Not happening. Finally one guy calls back. He has a red base with the above extras for the 28k. I don't want red. Red gets pulled over too damn much. That's not a rumor, it's fact. He says he'll make it worth my while to like red. What? A dealer who is willing to bargain on a Z? Hmmmm he even offered to grill us steaks if we would just come look at it. We did. He did. He even actually made us a deal we couldn't refuse. He dropped $1500 below the MSRP on that car. That sucker is sittin in my driveway right now. I love red. heh.

So.. there has to be drawbacks, right? I mean, no car is perfect.. ok fine, yes there are a few. First, you have to understand that you can either have a performance vehicle, or you can have a luxury vehicle. You cannot have both. You can have a hybrid of the two, but it will not be the best of either. Choose one. This is a performance vehicle. It's made to run, not cruise idly down the highway in comfort. It totally hates going under 100. I'm serious. Having said that, it isn't bad in that department. The seats could be a bit softer, but they really are much comfier than you would think. The wheels are a big factor here too. We went with the 17" which are a much better ride in general than the 18" were. Oh yes you still feel the bumps.. but you need to feel the road in a performance machine. I'd be worried if I couldn't.

The other drawback is the doors. This is two-fold. The first is that there is really nowhere to rest your arm. The sides come up higher than normal for safety reasons, and are thus too high to rest your arm on the window ledge. The second is rain. There are no gutters so to speak. If it's raining and you roll that window down, you will get soaked immediately. We learned the hard way last night. heh.

Now, what did they change from the '03. Well, for one, a little interior styling, nothing major. On the '03 there was a problem with one of the storage areas. There is a place in the dash where you can order a very cool GPS system to be installed, if you skip the GPS, it's a glove box. On the '03s, there was a problem with this popping open and breaking. They fixed that.

Also, there were a lot of complaints about the car wanting to pull to the right on a fast acceleration. I do not see that problem with the '04 at all. I do see it wanting to pull to the right on braking a little, but if you know how to handle a car like this and let yourself get used to it's every nuance before you start jumping on it, this is not a problem. I anticipate this being corrected in '05.

Storage space is always a concern with a sports car. The MR2 Spyder has zero storage. Zip. The S2000 wasn't bad really for that size car (Actually that is a sweet little car in it's own right)... but this Z can actually handle both of our golf bags with ease. Double sweeeeeeeeeeeet.

I feel like I'm leaving something out here. Hmm well, I would like to mention again the cornering. You just have no idea how well this hugs tight curves. I'm in heaven. As for a zero-to-60 run, well... you know that Vette with the big ol' engine everyone drools over? This Z is only .2 seconds slower in the 60.. not 2... point 2. Negligible. And I'd go so far as to say that I would feel comfortable taking on a Vette once my engine breaks in.

OH! The tires! That's what I wanted to tell you about. Now, they have several that they put on these cars, ours has the Bridgestone Potenza RE040, 235-50-R17. Now what that means is that they didn't put cheap tires on this car. These have a W rating which means they test to high speed conditions up to 167-ish. It is very important to have high-speed tires if you plan to drive this car like it was meant to be driven. I've had a high-speed blow out. You do not want to experience that. Also, I would suggest periodically having them checked for high-speed separation, you can't always eye ball them and tell.

We looked all over for one with zero miles, that was really the main concern. We know how we test drove, we wanted one that had not been beat up. heh. We are babying this one until the 1200 miles.. but at 1201... look out!

For this price, you cannot beat this car. 5 stars.

3 month update

We still adore this car. I'm talkin' seriously love it. Once you buy yours, you will want to get Z-branded clothing and whatnot..so I've found it for you.. grin

Z.com
http://www.epinions.com/content_125673377412

Enjoy.



Amount Paid (US$): 26347
Condition: New
Model Year: 2004